|
Anger
Management
Rated PG-13
Anger
Management is almost-but-not-quite funny that it feels like one huge
rip-off. Convicted of assaulting a flight attendant, Dave (Adam Sandler-
Waterboy, Billy Madison) is sentenced to anger-management therapy. In his
therapy group, the other patients in his group are a hilariously
aggressive John Turturro (O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Box of Moonlight)
and Luis Guzman (Magnolia and Boogie Nights) as an outrageous homosexual.
It's a wacky bunch, but eyebrow-arching Dr. Buddy Rydell (Jack Nicholson-
As Good As It Gets, The Shining) is crazier than all of them.
Rydell seems determined to bring out Dave's inner
lunatic. Rydell was sitting next to Dave on the plane and knows he didn't
assault anyone, but he insists the buttoned-down executive assistant has
anger-management problems. Before long, Dave gets into more trouble, and
Rydell moves in with him for intensive therapy. It's only a matter of time
before the overbearing shrink is putting moves on Dave's longtime
girlfriend (Marisa Tomei- My Cousin Vinny, Slums of Beverly Hills). Dave
becomes overwhelmed with Rydell moving in on his life and actually becomes
a lunatic. At the end of the movie, Dave finds out that all of this was a
set-up from his girlfriend and is released from Rydell’s program.
This film was not as good as it should have been. With
Jack Nicholson and Adam Sandler playing side by side, you’d think you
should be laughing at the movie more. I would recommend this film to
anyone who admires Adam Sandler or Jack Nicholson, otherwise I suggest
waiting for it to come to DVD!
|
Head of State
Rated PG-13
For a one-joke movie, Head of State is pretty
good. It shows just how many variations on a subject you can find and
still get laughs. Chris Rock (Down To Earth, Dogma) stars as Mays
Gilliam, a Washington, D.C. minor politician that has the chance to
become president.
When the Democratic presidential and vice presidential
candidates are killed 10 weeks before the election, the Democrats cast
about for a sacrificial lamb to fill the bill against a seemingly
unbeatable Republican opponent. Mays comes to the Democrats' attention
when he lands on TV for saving a citizen’s life. Since Mays played the
hero card, they get him to be their fill-in candidate, but not before
his girlfriend (Robin Givens- A Face To Die For, Boomerang) has dumped
him and his car has been repossessed.
Initially, he obeys his handlers, while repeating
essentially the same speech from town to town. It's only when he gets to
Chicago and encounters his big brother, Mitch (Bernie Mac-
Bernie Mac Show) who tells him what an ordinary campaign he's running. When Mitch
told him that he decides to be himself. Mays turns the tables on the
stuffy white politicians by being down-to-earth, caring about people and
refusing to play by their rules.
Mays chooses Mitch as his running mate partly on the assumption that no
one will want to assassinate him now, and the scenes where Mitch
bulldozes his way through the D.C. talk-show circuit are the film's
funniest. Eventually, of course, their candidacy takes on a populist
life of its own with comedy gags.
For Chris Rock’s first movie that he co-wrote, it’s a
shame that it is not funnier. This film is full of racial issues that go
on in the real political world and Rock overcomes them brilliantly. If
you do choose to see this film, just don’t be disappointed if it isn’t
the way you hoped. |
